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Why I'm Not A Feminist, Pt. 2: Rape

Third wave feminists rants and rails against rape, painting a picture of a world dominated by sexually-perverted men who rape women as a means to establish their power and control. They claim that our society propagates a "rape culture" where it's okay for a man to do what he wants with a woman. There are even some feminists who claim that #YesAllWomen have been raped.

Let's address their concerns one at a time.

The world is filled with men rape women as a means to establish their power and control.

This statement is false, an exaggeration that spreads fear and misinformation. First, in 2010 only 1.1% of women reported being raped. That is not a large number, definitely not dominating and
definitely not something you need to worry about. Secondly, in 2010 1.1% of men reported being raped. That's right - women raped men as much as men raped women. Rape is not a female problem; it's a societal problem. The biggest difference between men and women getting raped is that we as a society either ignore men as victims or make fun of them for "letting" themselves get raped. Women have rape crisis centers, rape hotlines, specific laws designed to assist female rape victims; our emergency rooms even have special procedures that they follow to document a rape while caring for the female victim as best as they can.

Our society propagates a "rape culture" where it's okay for a man to do what he wants with a woman.

I think an important question at this point is how do you define "rape culture". According to Wikipedia:

Rape culture is a concept within feminist theory in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.

Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, or refusing to acknowledge the harm of some forms of sexual violence.

Sadly, we do have a rape culture because feminists trivialize the rape of men, deny that men are raped, and refuse to acknowledge the harm done to men.

Does this mean we don't have a rape culture for women? I think that society has changed over the past twenty years, acknowledging it is not okay for a man to rape a woman and that it is not a woman's fault. But we haven't even gotten around to acknowledge that male rape is a problem.

#YesAllWomen have been raped.

No, not all women have been raped. I am insulted to think that women out there are attempting to include me as a rape victim when I have never been raped. That degrades the pain and suffering of women who have been assaulted, burying them in the masses with a casual "it happens to everyone".

Truthfully, the number of women being raped has declined over the years, partially due to social pressures and partially due to educating men and woman on how to handle sexual situations. There have been several successful campaign to teach men communicate with women to avoid a rape scenario, commonly labeled teaching men not to rape. I find that particular title offensive to men because of the underlying assumption that every man will rape unless you teach him not to. But we don't have any teach women not to rape campaigns, and most feminist take offense if you even mention the idea. Because to acknowledge the need for such a campaign also acknowledge that male rape is a problem, and they don't want to do that. It makes rape a better feminist topic if men don't get raped.

This is reason two why I'm not a feminist. I know that rape is a social problem, not a female or male problem. And we need to treat it as such.

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